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The Bat Family
The Bat Family is the informal name for Batman's closest allies, generally masked vigilantes who either have been trained by Batman or operate in Gotham City with his tacit approval. The group consists of similarly-minded superheroes who operate in the Gotham City area and work towards achieving common goals. Batman is often the team leader or, in some cases, its dispatch. Various members of the group usually work independently, though do occasionally interact with one another and assist in each other's cases. Although some members originally resented Batman’s intrusion into their lives, all respect him as a legend within the superhero community and rarely dare to challenge his authority. Most of the members also have a strong rapport with the Dark Knight due to their long and close relationships with him over the years, and consider him a close friend and ally, and acknowledge that he most likely shares that sentiment, no matter how averse he is to actually showing it. It has also been implied through Batman's history that this network serves as a surrogate family for Batman and keeps him from slipping too far into his ruthless vigilante persona. History Members Batman (Bruce Wayne) – The "patriarch" and leader of the team, young Bruce Wayne witnessed the brutal murder of his parents as a child, and used this trauma and his vast personal wealth to travel the world and acquire the skills needed to wage his war on crime. He is widely considered "the world's greatest detective", possessing superior skills in observation, critical thinking and problem solving. After a few years of operating alone, he eventually acquired partners and assistants to help him keep Gotham under control, personally training each of them himself. Robin * Dick Grayson - An orphaned child acrobat who originally served as Batman’s first sidekick, Robin, and became Bruce Wayne's ward and later adopted son. Heir to the Batman title and considered a tremendous acrobat, he has taken the Robin identity with him across to the west coast as part of his extensive training. * Jason Todd - A young street orphan that Batman caught trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile. Batman recognized some skills in the kid and adopted him as his second son and the second Robin. Not as acrobatic as Dick and far more aggressive, he would occasionally clash with Batman's ideals but nonetheless remained loyal to him. Tragedy struck the Batman family when he was murdered by the Joker, causing Batman to forsake any more Robins for a long time. * Tim Drake - An adopted son of Bruce Wayne. Another teenage crime fighter whose skill drove him to want to assist Batman after the death of Jason Todd. After his family is threatened and moved into witness protection, he is adopted as Bruce Wayne's son, becomes the third Robin. * Carolina Falcone - The estranged daughter of Crime Lord Carmine Falcone. The most recent Robin, she proved to have potential, measuring up to the usual acrobatics of Robin using her gymnastics skill. Young and bold, as well as partially defiant to Batman's mentorship, her adventurism and curiosity almost got her kidnapped on a number of occasions, and eventually successfully kidnapped by Poison Ivy. Batgirl * Barbara Gordon - The daughter of Gotham police commissioner Jim Gordon. Barbara began operating as Batgirl soon after the first appearance of Robin. She served as Batgirl for a time; however, tragedy struck once more when she was left paraplegic by the Joker; fortunately she survived, continuing to serve Batman as Oracle, the information broker to the Bat Family. Her incident with the Joker initially left her with PTSD and anger issues stemming from her nearly fatal attack, from which since she has mostly recovered. * Cassandra Cain - A martial arts prodigy with unknown family ties. She was trained from early childhood to read human body language instead of developing verbal and written communication skills, supposedly as part of her conditioning in self-defense. After she was orphaned, Batman and Oracle later took her in and trained her as the next Batgirl. Cassandra ceased being Batgirl after a short time due to apparent frustration and passed off the Batgirl identity; after abandoning this role, she became the vigilante known as the Orphan. Investigating the League of Assassins and their growing presence in Gotham, she quickly found herself captured and is now being held by them as a secret prisoner to be used as leverage. Supporting Cast * Alfred Pennyworth - The Wayne family butler and father figure to the rest of the Wayne family. Alfred raised Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed, and even helped to train him sometime into his development as Batman. However, he was mostly unable to help train the other members, as he was getting too old to do much than instruct them like a teacher, leaving Batman to do the physical conditioning himself. He considers Bruce a son in the much the same way that he considers Bruce's adopted children his grandchildren. * Lucius Fox - Although far less privy to Bruce Wayne's personal life than his business dealings, Lucius Fox is a trusted close associate of Wayne as his business manager responsible for both Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation. Lucius knows little of Bruce's secret life; have some hints about it where he knows Bruce is doing something, but prefers not to know exactly what. * Ace the Bat Hound - The Wayne Family guard dog adopted by Bruce and Alfred sometime after Tim Drake became Robin. Ace keeps company around the manor, is well-known by the public as a good companion, and is also highly trained in various skills. Ace is trusted in helping keep Wayne Manor safe from intrusion while Batman is out on missions, staying close to Alfred when Bruce is not around. * Katherine Kane - Daughter of a military officer who suffered the loss of the rest of her family while young. Years later, Kate attended a military academy before moving to Gotham, incapacitating a mugger that tried to steal from her. She spotted Batman immediately after, who intended to intervene and save her, though disappeared after finding that she was able to fend for herself. Inspired by his visage, Kate honed her training and received some gear from her surviving father, modeling herself into Batwoman. Gallery Trivia * Despite there being various other official Robins in the Bat Family, Dick Grayson still uses the Robin title, even keeping his original costume with him after traveling to the west coast. This was accepted since he would no longer be operating in Gotham, so the local community wouldn't be confused with multiple iterations of the same character. * The death of Jason Todd sparked a dark period in the Bat Family, from which Bruce would no longer accept any partnership from anyone, taking sole responsibility for the loss. The subject would rarely be brought up by even Alfred, who knew Batman needed a partner to fill the void but couldn't bring himself to discuss the matter. Eventually, Bruce lightened enough to reluctantly train another Robin. * Following Oracle's crippling incident with the Joker, Batman once again forbade training any other partners and closed off supporting operations to fight crime alone, taking responsibility on himself again. This time, his isolation was outright opposed by the Bat Family, including Alfred and Robin who continued to support him against his wishes. Oracle would also oppose this after she recovered, placing herself in a support role; eventually, Batman begrudgingly accepted that he needed his Family once more. * While operating as Robin, Carolina Falcone would often refer to herself as "Red Robin," something which bothered Tim Drake as he originally wanted to use the name when he eventually got good enough to operate alone. * Although never fully indoctrinated into the Bat Family, Kate Kane's training was enough that Batman is allowing her to aid, at least in small part, to restabilize Gotham, especially in opposition to the League of Assassins.